Dick Justice

For other people with similar names, see Richard Justice (disambiguation).

Henry Franklin "Dick" Justice (April 2, 1903 – September 12, 1962)^[2] was an American blues and folk musician, who hailed from West Virginia, United States.

Dick Justice
Birth name	Henry Franklin Justice
Born	(1903-04-02)April 2, 1903 East Lynn, West Virginia, U.S.[1]
Died	September 12, 1962(1962-09-12) (aged 59) Yolyn, West Virginia, U.S.[1]
Genres	Blues Folk
Occupations	Coal miner Musician
Instruments	Vocal Guitar
Years active	1929
Labels	Brunswick Records

Biography

Born Henry Franklin Justice,^[3] he recorded ten songs for Brunswick Records in Chicago in 1929. Justice was heavily influenced by black musicians, particularly Luke Jordan, who recorded in 1927 and 1929 for Victor Records.^[4] Justice's "Cocaine" is a verse-for-verse cover of the Jordan track of the same name recorded two years earlier.^[5] The song "Brownskin Blues" is also stylistically akin to much of Jordan's work but stands on its own as a Justice original.^[6]

Justice is musically related to Frank Hutchison (with whom he played music and worked as a coal miner in Logan County, West Virginia),^[7] Bayless Rose and The Williamson Brothers.

His recording of the traditional ballad "Henry Lee" was the opening track of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music.^[8] Justice recorded four sides ("Guian Valley Waltz" and "Poor Girl's Waltz", "Muskrat Rag" and "Poca River Blues") with the fiddler Reese Jarvis.^[9]